The next few years will see an enormous break from the past in terms of skin color. Inexpensive dyes will come on the market that will make it possible to have any skin color you like. At first, this will simply allow people to lighten or darken their skin, but soon bright primary colors will become available, as will complex dying processes that allow people to put multicolored patterns on their skin. The dyes will be semi-permanent, in that they will change a person’s skin color until the next time they get their skin dyed.
People will start to dye their skin to identify with peer groups, sports teams, or even popular bands, many of whom will perform in signature dye jobs. This will break down the idea of race in a way that nothign before it could do. Instead of marking people’s race, skin color will mark their affiliation with any of a variety of groups, or even refer back to nothing but the person’s individual tastes.
(Valium)